Saturday, August 06, 2016

Sky Diving Without A Parachute

Would you jump out of a plane at 25,000 feet without a parachute? Luke Atkins did. Last week Luke jumped from a plane over Sim Valley in California and, without the aid of a parachute, he free-fell 25,000 into a 100-by-100-foot safety net.

If you want to get a sense of what a free-fall from 25,000 feet is actually like, without putting yourself at serious risk of death, then you can try Darren Wien's Skydive Sim. Skydive Sim uses Cesium to recreate Luke Atkin's 25,000 free-fall over Sim Valley.

The simulation starts at 25,000 feet over California. The 100-by100-foot safety net is represented by a red square on the ground. As you free-fall you can use the W, A, S, D keys on your keyboard to adjust your position. You fall at a rate of 120 mph so you might not want to veer too far from that net on the ground!

You can also use Google's own Map Dive game to practice your free-fall skills. In Map Dive you get to free fall on top of Google Maps and then land on famous monuments around the world.

During your descent, as you free-fall towards your destination on the ground, you need to steer Pegman through a series of hoops. You gain points in the game by successfully steering through the red & white hoops and by collecting the floating stars. It's even trickier than it sounds.